- Slavskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast
Slavskoye ( _ru. Славское; _de. Kreuzburg in Ostpreussen) is a village in
Kaliningrad Oblast ,Russia , 20 km south ofKaliningrad .History
In 1240 the
Teutonic Knights founded a castle (Creutzburg Kreuzburg, cross castle) in the region ofNatangia at the location of anOld Prussian settlement. In 1315 the settlement received its town privileges. Throughout theHunger War in 1414 71 houses were destroyed and five citizens were killed by Polish troops. The town also suffered heavy damages in theThirteen Years' War of 1454-66 and thePolish–Teutonic War (1519–1521) .After the secularization of the Teutonic Knights in 1525 the village became part of the
Duchy of Prussia and theKingdom of Prussia in 1701. It was badly affected by theNapoleonic Battle of Eylau in February 1807 and almost totally destroyed by a fire catastrophe on 10 May 1818, when 152 buildings burnt down. Only the Church, the vicarage and the schoolhouse were not affected. Due to that disaster the regional administration was transferred to Pr. Eylau.The town was connected to the railway-system in 1908.
Throughout the Soviet
East Prussian Offensive in February 1945 the town was again largely destroyed and transferred fromGermany to theSoviet Union according to the 1945Potsdam Conference . Its German population was expelled. The village was renamed from "Kreuzburg" to "Slavskoye".Population
*1740: 986
*1816: 1,700
*1823: 1,352
*1843: 1,809
*1875: 2,004
*1885: 1,976, including 17 Catholics, 11 Jews
*1910: 1,726
*1939: 2,005Notable residents
*
Hermann von Boyen (1771 - 1848), Prussian fieldmarshal
*Michael Kongehl (1646 – 1710), baroque poetReferences
*Horst Schulz, Der Kreis Pr. Eylau, Verden/Aller 1983
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